I heard something to do with Nitrogen and …cow farts(?) I am really unsure of this and would like to learn more.

Answer -

4 Parts

  • Ethical reason for consuming animals
  • Methane produced by cows are a harmful greenhouse gas which is contributing to our current climate crisis
  • Health Reasons - there is convincing evidence that processed meats cause cancer
  • it takes a lot more calories of plant food to produce the calories we would consume from the meat.

Details about the answers are in the comments

      • tetraodon@feddit.itEnglish
        11·
        11 months ago

        But animal feed also contains soy oil, so even allowing for part of soybean production being used for human consumption, there remains a significant part of soy effectively produced for the benefit of livestock. Furthermore, animal feed production incentivizes the cultivation of soy. If there was no animal feed incentive, there would not be a need to expand soy cultivation into virgin land.

        Which bring us to animal feed causing increased land usage (which could be reforested if nothing else), methane emissions, and waste production connected with raising livestock.

        • commie@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
          11·
          11 months ago

          there is no reason to think that the land would be deforested, nor even that it would not have been deforested for some other reason, if everyone were vegan.

            • commie@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
              11·
              11 months ago

              what would change if everyone were vegan? what would change to MAKE everyone vegan? you can’t actually know what that world would be like. you’re guessing.

              • tetraodon@feddit.itEnglish
                3·
                11 months ago

                Sorry but what an idiotic take.

                It has been proven over and over again that diets including fewer animal products are lighter on the environment (e.g. https://www.nature.com/articles/s43016-023-00795-w).

                I’m not claiming everyone should go vegan, but if everyone ate less meat, it would give us more time against climate change.

                • commie@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
                  11·
                  11 months ago

                  the nature article only talks about the impacts of producing the various foods in the current circumstance. if people shifted to eating less meat, then circumstances would be different, but it’s not clear that the environment would actually benefit at all.